NASCAR Notebook: Talladega
Barry F. Hess
October 07, 2006
Talladega Nights
After several Chasers left Kansas last weekend with a bad taste in their mouths the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit travels to what has quickly become known as the wild-card race of the Chase for the Cup…Talladega Super Speedway.
If Dover is the Monster Mile and Darlington is the Lady in Black than Talladega Super Speedway has to be considered The Iron Curtain for its ability to wipe out a huge field of cars within a blink of an eye in a mass wreck that has been aptly named, the big one.
There’s no way to avoid it, there’s no way to know when and where it will strike but the odds are somewhere, at some point Sunday afternoon the curtain will fall on a number of drivers, many of which may see their title hopes fall by the wayside in the process.
One driver whose title hopes dissipated in Richmond, Tony Stewart, will look to make it two in a row as he comes off an improvable victory in Kansas despite running out of gas through turn two of the final lap.
Since the Chase began Stewart has only finished outside the top 10 once, and had he not finished near the back of the back in Richmond with a back-up car he would be sitting fifth in points.
Stewart earned a second place finish the first time the circuit traveled to the 2.66 mile super speedway this year and he will look to earn a similar finish Sunday to all but lock himself into the 11th position and the million dollar bonus that comes with it at the end of the year.
Look for Smoke to find his favorite drafting partner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and propel the No. 20 Home Depot Chevy to the front of the pack and compete for his fourth win of 2006.
Since returning to the Nextel Cup level Dodge has failed to win a race at either of NASCAR’s two restrictor plate race tracks, Daytona being the second.
But the long drought may come to an end Sunday with Elliot Sadler behind the wheel of the No. 19 Evernham Dodge.
While he may be thought of more for his outrageous wreck at Talladega several years ago that left fans and drivers alike wondering how he even survived Sadler has always run well at restrictor plate tracks, including his win in one of the Gatorade Duals earlier this season.
With several Dodge drivers finishing just short of the checkered flag in recent years look for Sadler to compete for a win as he continues to turn the No. 19 team around.
Whether it has been in a Dodge or a Ford Jamie McMurray has tasted the sweet flavors of victory on more than one occasion at Talladega, only to fall short each and every time.
After leading the field into a green, white, checkered situation in the spring McMurray once again had a win slip between his fingers and was forced to settle for a seventh place finish.
Look for McMurray to qualify well and contend for the first win driving the Roush Racing, No. 26 Crown Royal Ford.
With three top 10 finishes in his last five Talladega starts McMurray certainly knows his way around the super speedway and with a little bit of luck he might just know the way to Victory Lane before the afternoon is out.
Like several other Chase drivers Jeff Gordon left Kansas in a bad way, dropping four spots in points and 120 markers out of the lead.
But if ever there was a chance for the No. 24 DuPont Chevy team to eat up a large chunk of that deficit it would have to be at Talladega.
Gordon, a former Talladega winner, has set the standards for modern day restrictor plate racing and he will look to continue that legacy as he battles his way back into the championship hunt this Sunday.
Look for Gordon to compete for the pole before doing his best to keep the No. 24 Monte Carlo in front for as many laps as he can.
Bonus points are at a premium as we get deeper and deeper into the Chase and the extra five awarded to the driver who leads the most laps is a distinct possibility for the four-time Nextel Cup champion.
The only chink in the armor for Gordon, and the rest of his Hendrick teammates for that matter, is the surprising mechanical failures Hendrick cars have suffered through each of the first three races of the Chase.
Another failure to Gordon’s car and he will have to wait another year to drive for five.
Prediction: When it comes to Talladega one name comes to mind…Dale Earnhardt Jr. After a shaky start to the Chase, including a flat tire late in Dover Junior finds himself seventh in points and 123 points out of the lead.
But as we head to a track where Junior, five career wins, is about as money as Michael Jordon is on the basketball court the No. 8 Budweiser Chevy team is in perfect position to get right back in the hunt.
Look for Earnhardt to start the race near the front and propel that red rocket to the front of the pack ASAP.
With a restrictor plate program that is just getting back on its feet after several disappointments Earnhardt will travel to Talladega with great equipment and a great over the wall team that has the ability to maintain the good track position he will no doubt gain.
Martin to Return in 07 But Not Where We Thought
It was leaked late Thursday afternoon that Mark Martin has signed a deal with MB2 Motor Sports that will have him driving the No. 01 US Army Chevy in 22 2007 races while Busch Series driver David Regan will take the wheel for the remaining 14 races.
A press conference has been scheduled for Friday morning at Talladega Super Speedway where the announcement is expected to be made public.
The news has to come as bit of a shock to Martin’s boss of 18 years, Jack Roush, who stood next to Martin just two weeks ago in Dover an announced he would be sharing seat time in the No. 60 No Fear Ford next year with Boris Said, though the deal was not yet official.
Martin, who also stated he intentions of driving the Roush No. 6 Scotts Ford in the Craftsmen Truck Series next year, is currently third in points as he attempts to gain his first ever Nextel Cup Championship.
With the Truck schedule considerably different than the Nextel Cup schedule one has to assume Martin’s aforementioned truck duties will also fall through, leaving Roush hanging in the wind on more than one account.
After supporting Martin with the best crew members and equipment he possibly could for the last 18 years the decision to leave Roush Racing, where he’s achieved all of his success, in the late stages of his career is nothing short of surprising, especially when you take the circumstances into consideration.
"I'm actively working right now to try to secure sponsorship for the 60 car for 10-12 races," Martin said at Dover. "It's not done, but that's where the focus is as of today,” said Martin just two weeks ago.
Whether the details of that failed endeavor will be discussed at Friday morning’s press conference is not yet known.
Joe Nemecheck, the current driver of the No. 01 US Army Chevy, will remain with MB2 and drive a third car the team is preparing to start.
All things considered Martin’s best opportunity to win a Nextel Cup comes in the last seven races of 2006 and while his owner and boss has shown him loyalty like no other in today’s world of professional sports Martin has apparently decided he can continue to race competitively with another team, albeit with a team that has failed to even come close to making the Chase any of the three years it has been around.
If Martin’s intensions are simply to get in a race car and drive because he cant get enough one has to wonder what exactly MB2 offered the four-time championship runner-up.
A question only time and a little bit of investigating will answer.
Random Thoughts
Speeding on pit road with less than 10 laps to go in a race and killing his chances at a guaranteed top 10 finish…exhibit number 3,472 of why Jimmie Johnson will never win a Nextel Cup championship. The man just has a fetish about shooting himself in the foot when the pressure is turned up.
Can someone please tell me why in the heck Kasey Kahne’s team decided to gamble on fuel mileage before running out of gas well short of the checkered flag last week? Um…hello…Kasey…you’re competing for a championship here! Correction…you WERE competing for a championship.
For a race track that was criticized for having only one groove three years ago the Kansas Speedway has certainly developed into an exciting three groove track.
In case you couldn’t tell by reading the article above I am not very happy about Mark Martin’s decision to leave Roush high and dry, which is exactly what he’s doing. Don’t get me wrong, I totally respect a guy’s decision to do what he feels is best in his life but to commit to both the No. 60 No Fear car as well as the No. 6 in the truck series and then bail out is a slap in the face to Jack Roush.
After several Chasers left Kansas last weekend with a bad taste in their mouths the NASCAR Nextel Cup circuit travels to what has quickly become known as the wild-card race of the Chase for the Cup…Talladega Super Speedway.
If Dover is the Monster Mile and Darlington is the Lady in Black than Talladega Super Speedway has to be considered The Iron Curtain for its ability to wipe out a huge field of cars within a blink of an eye in a mass wreck that has been aptly named, the big one.
There’s no way to avoid it, there’s no way to know when and where it will strike but the odds are somewhere, at some point Sunday afternoon the curtain will fall on a number of drivers, many of which may see their title hopes fall by the wayside in the process.
One driver whose title hopes dissipated in Richmond, Tony Stewart, will look to make it two in a row as he comes off an improvable victory in Kansas despite running out of gas through turn two of the final lap.
Since the Chase began Stewart has only finished outside the top 10 once, and had he not finished near the back of the back in Richmond with a back-up car he would be sitting fifth in points.
Stewart earned a second place finish the first time the circuit traveled to the 2.66 mile super speedway this year and he will look to earn a similar finish Sunday to all but lock himself into the 11th position and the million dollar bonus that comes with it at the end of the year.
Look for Smoke to find his favorite drafting partner, Dale Earnhardt Jr., and propel the No. 20 Home Depot Chevy to the front of the pack and compete for his fourth win of 2006.
Since returning to the Nextel Cup level Dodge has failed to win a race at either of NASCAR’s two restrictor plate race tracks, Daytona being the second.
But the long drought may come to an end Sunday with Elliot Sadler behind the wheel of the No. 19 Evernham Dodge.
While he may be thought of more for his outrageous wreck at Talladega several years ago that left fans and drivers alike wondering how he even survived Sadler has always run well at restrictor plate tracks, including his win in one of the Gatorade Duals earlier this season.
With several Dodge drivers finishing just short of the checkered flag in recent years look for Sadler to compete for a win as he continues to turn the No. 19 team around.
Whether it has been in a Dodge or a Ford Jamie McMurray has tasted the sweet flavors of victory on more than one occasion at Talladega, only to fall short each and every time.
After leading the field into a green, white, checkered situation in the spring McMurray once again had a win slip between his fingers and was forced to settle for a seventh place finish.
Look for McMurray to qualify well and contend for the first win driving the Roush Racing, No. 26 Crown Royal Ford.
With three top 10 finishes in his last five Talladega starts McMurray certainly knows his way around the super speedway and with a little bit of luck he might just know the way to Victory Lane before the afternoon is out.
Like several other Chase drivers Jeff Gordon left Kansas in a bad way, dropping four spots in points and 120 markers out of the lead.
But if ever there was a chance for the No. 24 DuPont Chevy team to eat up a large chunk of that deficit it would have to be at Talladega.
Gordon, a former Talladega winner, has set the standards for modern day restrictor plate racing and he will look to continue that legacy as he battles his way back into the championship hunt this Sunday.
Look for Gordon to compete for the pole before doing his best to keep the No. 24 Monte Carlo in front for as many laps as he can.
Bonus points are at a premium as we get deeper and deeper into the Chase and the extra five awarded to the driver who leads the most laps is a distinct possibility for the four-time Nextel Cup champion.
The only chink in the armor for Gordon, and the rest of his Hendrick teammates for that matter, is the surprising mechanical failures Hendrick cars have suffered through each of the first three races of the Chase.
Another failure to Gordon’s car and he will have to wait another year to drive for five.
Prediction: When it comes to Talladega one name comes to mind…Dale Earnhardt Jr. After a shaky start to the Chase, including a flat tire late in Dover Junior finds himself seventh in points and 123 points out of the lead.
But as we head to a track where Junior, five career wins, is about as money as Michael Jordon is on the basketball court the No. 8 Budweiser Chevy team is in perfect position to get right back in the hunt.
Look for Earnhardt to start the race near the front and propel that red rocket to the front of the pack ASAP.
With a restrictor plate program that is just getting back on its feet after several disappointments Earnhardt will travel to Talladega with great equipment and a great over the wall team that has the ability to maintain the good track position he will no doubt gain.
Martin to Return in 07 But Not Where We Thought
It was leaked late Thursday afternoon that Mark Martin has signed a deal with MB2 Motor Sports that will have him driving the No. 01 US Army Chevy in 22 2007 races while Busch Series driver David Regan will take the wheel for the remaining 14 races.
A press conference has been scheduled for Friday morning at Talladega Super Speedway where the announcement is expected to be made public.
The news has to come as bit of a shock to Martin’s boss of 18 years, Jack Roush, who stood next to Martin just two weeks ago in Dover an announced he would be sharing seat time in the No. 60 No Fear Ford next year with Boris Said, though the deal was not yet official.
Martin, who also stated he intentions of driving the Roush No. 6 Scotts Ford in the Craftsmen Truck Series next year, is currently third in points as he attempts to gain his first ever Nextel Cup Championship.
With the Truck schedule considerably different than the Nextel Cup schedule one has to assume Martin’s aforementioned truck duties will also fall through, leaving Roush hanging in the wind on more than one account.
After supporting Martin with the best crew members and equipment he possibly could for the last 18 years the decision to leave Roush Racing, where he’s achieved all of his success, in the late stages of his career is nothing short of surprising, especially when you take the circumstances into consideration.
"I'm actively working right now to try to secure sponsorship for the 60 car for 10-12 races," Martin said at Dover. "It's not done, but that's where the focus is as of today,” said Martin just two weeks ago.
Whether the details of that failed endeavor will be discussed at Friday morning’s press conference is not yet known.
Joe Nemecheck, the current driver of the No. 01 US Army Chevy, will remain with MB2 and drive a third car the team is preparing to start.
All things considered Martin’s best opportunity to win a Nextel Cup comes in the last seven races of 2006 and while his owner and boss has shown him loyalty like no other in today’s world of professional sports Martin has apparently decided he can continue to race competitively with another team, albeit with a team that has failed to even come close to making the Chase any of the three years it has been around.
If Martin’s intensions are simply to get in a race car and drive because he cant get enough one has to wonder what exactly MB2 offered the four-time championship runner-up.
A question only time and a little bit of investigating will answer.
Random Thoughts
Speeding on pit road with less than 10 laps to go in a race and killing his chances at a guaranteed top 10 finish…exhibit number 3,472 of why Jimmie Johnson will never win a Nextel Cup championship. The man just has a fetish about shooting himself in the foot when the pressure is turned up.
Can someone please tell me why in the heck Kasey Kahne’s team decided to gamble on fuel mileage before running out of gas well short of the checkered flag last week? Um…hello…Kasey…you’re competing for a championship here! Correction…you WERE competing for a championship.
For a race track that was criticized for having only one groove three years ago the Kansas Speedway has certainly developed into an exciting three groove track.
In case you couldn’t tell by reading the article above I am not very happy about Mark Martin’s decision to leave Roush high and dry, which is exactly what he’s doing. Don’t get me wrong, I totally respect a guy’s decision to do what he feels is best in his life but to commit to both the No. 60 No Fear car as well as the No. 6 in the truck series and then bail out is a slap in the face to Jack Roush.
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